Umar Khalid, the JNU student believed to have absconded with 5 other students, had organised an event to protest against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru at the Jawaharlal Nehru University on February 9.
According to some media reports, it was this event where anti-India slogans were raised based on which sedition charges were slapped on 9 students, including Umar and JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar.
Umar Khalid this time abused Arnab Goswami. He said:
But people thrashed him and said:
Umar has been in the news for a while now, here are 10 things you should know:
- Umar Khalid is a student of PhD in JNU’s Centre for Historical Studies. It was him who conceived the idea of a cultural evening to commemorate Afzal Guru’s death anniversary.
- Intelligence reports suggest the group wanted to hold such events in 18 universities in the country. Umar has, however, denied this. The name of the cultural event he organised was titled ‘A Country without a Post Office’.
- The 28-year-old resigned from the post of Democratic Student’s Union (DSU) leader in November 2015.
- He did his M.A. in history and M.Phil from JNU and has been doing field work in Jharkhand. He is one of the applicants who sought permission for organising the event on JNU campus.
- He is the son of Syed Qasim Ilyas, who was once the leader of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) before the organisation turned radical, and was banned in 2001.
- “His ideology has become his worst enemy. He is a meritorious student, did his MA and MPhil in such a prestigious institution. The country’s media is slowly turning on him because he is a perfect fit: A Muslim face with views that don’t gel with the State’s opinion on things,” Umar’s father said.
- The JNU student is a communist and self-proclaimed atheist – not an Islamist – according to his friends at JNU, reports Firstpost.
- Umar Khalid and the 4 other missing JNU students resurfaced on the campus. Umar while addressing the students inside the JNU campus on Sunday night said, “My name is Umar Khalid and I’m not a terrorist”.
- Delhi Police had been looking for Umar since February 11 after he was charged with sedition. An intelligence report had named 10 DSU activists who organised the event to commemorate Guru’s death anniversary.
- Police had issued a lookout notice for Khalid, as well as four other students- Anant Prakash Narayan, Ashutosh Kumar, Rama Naga, Anirban Bhattacharya, who were charged with sedition after they were seen on camera raising anti-India slogans on February 9.
Earlier, The JNU administration on Wednesday cancelled a talk by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on the 25th anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition.
Likewise, a cultural performance organised by Umar Khalid in remembrance and another talk by CPM leader Prakash Karat on it were also called off.
The administration explained in a statement that the last-minute decision was to “maintain communal harmony and peace”. But the students slammed the move, accusing the university of curbing freedom on campus.
Security had been stepped up for all the events. Swamy was supposed to speak at the university’s Koyna Hostel in an event organised by a group of students under the banner of ‘Vivekanda Vichar Manch’. Permission for it was sought on November 27.
“The office of the warden cancelled the event without giving us any reason. It was they who had given us the permission earlier,” said Vishwas Anand, a student at JNU’s School of Languages and one of the organisers of the event.
Then the organisers, along with ABVP activists, accused the administration of bias as the Karat talk organised by JNUSU and Khalid’s event were still on.
That’s when the university cancelled all public lectures.
Calling it a move that displayed “incompetence, paranoia and utter disregard for JNU’s vibrant intellectual and political culture,” JNUSU said it was a recent trend in the university of last-minute cancellation of previously approved programmes. This, JNUSU alleged, thrusts “JNU into unnecessary media spotlight and controversy”.
Condemning the administration, JNUSU said in a statement that it was part of “a sinister agenda to shut out all dissenting voices that remember the Babri demolition”.
JNUSU also questioned the administration’s claims that “academic discussions on themes promoting knowledge enhancement and social order” would be allowed.
Only a rally by BAPSA, an Ambedkarite organisation, was held as it didn’t require any permission.
